Glossary Term – Organization

The Second Continental Congress was the body of colonial delegates that first met in May 1775, by arrangement of the First Continental Congress. Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, who had not taken part in the First Continental Congress, were among its members. During the American Revolution, the Second Continental Congress served as the provisional government of the colonies, issued the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and adopted the Articles of Confederation in 1777.

Glossary Term – Person

Samuel Chase (1741–1811) was a delegate to the Continental Congress (1774–1778) and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Though he opposed ratification, Chase was largely responsible for drafting clauses protecting trial by jury and freedom of the press. In 1796 he was appointed justice of the Supreme Court by Washington. Eight years later he was impeached at the behest of Thomas Jefferson, the Republican president, after Chase, a Federalist, spoke out against democratic “mobocracy” from the bench. Chase was not convicted, however,...

Glossary Term – Person

George Mason (1725–1792) was an American political leader from Virginia who opposed strong central government and supported protections for individual liberties. During the 1760s and 1770s, Mason vocally opposed British policies and called on colonists to oppose the Stamp Act in 1765. He drafted the Fairfax Resolves in 1774 and Virginia’s Declaration of Rights in 1776. His Declaration of Rights became a model for the Declaration of Independence. It also became a foundation for the Constitutional Bill of Rights adopted in 1791. At the...